SALOON to Open Peninsula Players' 78th Summer Season, 6/11

The 78th season of summer stock theater along the shores of Green Bay opens in Juen when the Peninsula Players raises the curtain on "Saloon" by Terry Twyman. Summer stock theaters sprang up in the early decades of the 20th century in empty barns, old mills and haylofts across the country. They became venues for movie studio producers to scope out new talent.

Budding talent, designers, writers and actors, could grow and stretch their creative muscles in summer stock. New plays were tried out; actors learned to sing and dance.

Summer stock companies produced an average of 10 shows a season from early June to Labor Day across the country, with a new show each week.

Many early film actors, such as Henry Fonda, Danny Kaye, Margaret Sullavan, Marlon Brando, Paul Lynde, Ginger Rogers, Ann Miller, Colleen Dewhurst and many more trained and learned while working with summer stock companies.

They were members of a company; the core of actors including a leading man, a leading lady, a character man and woman, and an ingénue, typically a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome.

Peninsula Players has played its part in this tradition, giving young talent the opportunity to grow alongside professional stage veterans, a majority of whom are members of Actors' Equity, the professional union of stage managers and actors.

In the 1930s the studio system was in full swing, and an actor was under contract with a specific studio for a number of projects. Caroline Fisher, one of the Peninsula Players founders alongside her brother Richard, was under such a contract with MGM.

While she was under contract Caroline met her husband-to-be, Rodion Rathbone, the son of film actor Basil Rathbone. Caroline and Rodion brought a bit of Hollywood glamour to Fish Creek in the 1930s and '40s. Legendary charter Sherlock Holmes will take the stage this summer in Ken Ludwig's "The Game's Afoot."

Peninsula Players first performed behind the Bonnie Brooke Motel in Fish Creek in 1935. The Fishers purchased the former Wildwood Camp for boys in 1937, and Peninsula Players has been performing a mix of comedies, dramas and musicals ever since.

From those early years, Marden McBroom moved to Hollywood after a season in Fish Creek and became David Bruce who made swashbuckling films with Errol Flynn. Another early company member, Sam Wanamaker continued his acting career as well as producing and directing. Wanamaker moved to London to raise funds to rebuild Shakespeare's Globe.

Julie Bishop trod the boards in Fish Creek the summer before making films with John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart and Olivia de Havilland. Dan Simon Scott developed a great career in movies and television after several season with The Players.

In the 1950s Harvey Korman earned his Equity card by working at The Players, and in the 1960s René Auberjonois was hired by Caroline to play Mac the Knife in "Three Penny Opera." He learned to sing and read music. After his time with summer stock in Fish Creek he went on to perform in many Broadway musicals and earned a Tony award for his performance in "Coco" with Katherine Hepburn.

Peninsula Players continues to bring fresh young talent to the stage. In recent decades Joel Hatch, who was in "All My Sons" and "The Cherry Orchard," performed on Broadway in "Billy Elliot" and recently at Carnegie Hall in a concert presentation of "The Sound of Music." He was also nominated for an Obie award for his performance in "The Adding Machine."

Stephen Wallem ("Forever Plaid") plays Thor on Showtime's "Nurse Jackie" and has performed a cabaret act with its star, Edie Falco. The Peninsula Players Artistic Director Greg Vinkler made his Broadway debut in the revival of "West Side Story." Sean Allan Krill ("Into the Woods") has also performed on Broadway in "Mamma Mia" and was a standby in the recent production of "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever."

Patrons of our 2010 season saw Jessie Mueller in "Over the Tavern" and "A Little Night Music." Members of The Players' company are cheering for Jessie Mueller who has been nominated for a Tony award. Mueller made her Broadway debut in "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" with Harry Connick, Jr. and is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical.

"I don't know; my head is still spinning," Mueller said in an interview. "I am excited to get there to enjoy it and soak it all up."

What new talent will patrons discover this season at The Players? With a five-show line up ranging from comedies, a musical, a mystery and a western, one never knows which actors may go beyond The Players' summer stock stage.

For more information on the Peninsula Players season visit www.peninsulaplayers.com or phone the box office at 920-868-3287.

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